Category: beer

This week’s craft beer is brought you by 3 Floyds Brewing Company. Based out of Munster in northern Indiana, this double IPA rocks.

How’d it look?

Awesome. It was a beautiful amber color that looked even better on the camera. A great head retention topped off the glass.

The taste?

Fruity with a hint of citrus. Drinking each sip revealed just a little more about it’s taste profile each time. Flavorful explosion with the start, velvety smoothness throughout, and easy bitter after taste to top it off (or gulp it down). The flavor profile helped mask the high ABV in this DIPA.

Aroma?

Like I was sniffing a sweet bouquet of citrus hinted fruits. The aroma helped seal in the taste from start to finish with each sip.

Finals thoughts.

I’d drink it again each and every time. This thing kicked (my) ass. The bomber was a perfect fit for this brew. Two glasses is all you need to appreciate this beer. Watch thefull review here!

I started this blog based around craft beer and have been somehow trying to weasel in video games into it, too.

This article that I’ve gone back and re-written was the one that I first used for a pairing series where I match any video game with a type of beer. I saw this buried deep in my hard drive and thought I’d throw it up for all to see where I go the inspiration. I love doing it because what two things don’t go better together?

I’ve paired cheese with various wines (I don’t know anything about that), beers with different meat (I’m a good cook but I just drink my favorite beer at the moment and try not to burn the steaks) and one of my favorite questions of late which is the great debate of what kind of drinks to pair with video games!

The method to the madness.
I’m kidding. I didn’t really do this with any panache or method. I played each game for about 3 hours and in that span, I was only allowed 2 beers per game. That way, I didn’t end up too tipsy to play the game or start the typical online argument with random strangers.

I chose a popular game from the category of genre and that I still owned. That list ended up being pretty long and I like to think that my choices were solid because I’m limited to my XB One.

The standard fare.
Let’s start with the most popular genre that’s dominating platforms right now. The FPS (first person shooter for you n00bs out there). I used Battlefield 4 for this test and found it to work quite well. This is a fast-paced shooting game based on knowing the map and the best corners to camp out in and cheat ones happy little rear end off.
These rounds can go fast and get heated quickly or can last for upwards of 20 or 30 minutes playing Rush or Domination. As such, I decided the best thing to go with these games are an IPA’s or ales.

Preferably something that’s a session style and in the low ABV category as you get hooked pretty quickly and find yourself wasting hours trying not to let the constant deaths get to you. I drank a Zombie Dust first then decided that a Lagunitas Aunt Sally would perfectly sum up the bitterness of those near-constant deaths.

A disclaimer.
It’s important to note here that I forewent using Call of Duty for the sole purpose of everyone being so angry and constantly insulting my non-existent girlfriend or what they think of my mother. That’s just a buzz kill.

Endurance.
The next game I decided was best for this category was Forza 5, an Xbox One exclusive title that’s a simulation racing game. I found for this genre that a light cider worked pretty well. Something like Apple Orchard Crisp Cider or Henry and Forge Apple Cider (they’re really cheap too!) You really only have to drive fast and know when to push the brakes as to avoid slamming into a tight corner wall or other players.

Now, I decided to mix it up and go into a server that was hosting a 50 lap battle on the entirety of the Nurburgring track. The ciders barely lasted long enough for me to finish the race but somehow my car wasn’t completely destroyed. I thought that my favorite Honda Civic would get the job done, and while I finished dead last, I was proud that I powered my little beater across the finish line!

A blast from the past!

For the last genre was the ever-lovable Chrono Cross for the original PlayStation (remember those things?) This was an RPG game which set you on a placed path that you had to fight your way up via way of random enemy encounters. In the fight, you had to strategically choose your next attack move. Pick right and you won the match, choose wrong or pick the wrong elemental move, and it was back to the previous checkpoint. For this bad boy, I went with the Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout.

The taste stays delicious from start to finish which helps you stay focused on the next move and confident that you’ll push the right button from your rusty memory of a PlayStation controller (I haven’t touched a Playstation product in I don’t even know how long, don’t hate me). Given this was one of those old two-disk games that took upwards of 20 hours to beat, I didn’t make it that far in the story. But I could drink stouts the whole time and still rock out to this one!

Nostalgic.

These are just some brief thoughts on what worked best for me. I left each BF game on a positive K/D ratio and placed last in Forza which is pretty good for 3 hours of continuous racing. I ended up playing Chrono Cross for another 2 hours because I forgot how awesome it was only to be reminded by the rising sun that I just had inadvertently pulled an all-nighter and was now on the verge of falling asleep. But it was the most satisfying loss of sleep I’ve experienced in a while!

A stout befitting of a king indeed! This black-as-the-characters-hearts craft beer tastes incredible and smells just as great! As part of a collab between Brewery Ommegang and HBO, this brew kicks ass!

How’d it taste?

The first thing that struck me was the malt. Mild taste, but you could still pick it up. There were even some notes of chocolate, too.

The oak flavor was present at each stage from start to finish and was complimented by a licorice bite as well.

It was a medium-thick mouth feel and the aftertaste wasn’t all that bad, either!

The aroma?

“dang, dude” is all I can say about that. The aforementioned oak and some chocolate esters were the dominating factors in this brew.

You could smell some of the malt as well as a mild hop bitter which you couldn’t taste.

Lasting impressions?

Considering this was a bargain-bin buy, I’d say it was pretty great!

I’m not even a G.o.T fan and I don’t intend to start, but I whole-heartedly recommend picking it up for yourself and giving it a try.

Well, it looks like I’m back to another barleywine. And I have absolutely no regrets.

This magnificent craft beer comes courtesy of Clown Shoes Beer based out of Ipswich in Massachusetts. This heavy hitting whale of a craft beer rings in at a generous 12% ABV and brings with its bourbon barrel taste!

How’d it taste?

Great. I have a soft spot for barleywines and this particular one tickles that fancy. It’s sweet, fruity, and has that bourbon infused taste all throughout. It’s a bitter and thick mouth feel but weighed out nicely with the fruity esters in there, too.

There was a bit of a metallic bite, but I’m fairly certain that’s the bourbon weighing in there.

The aroma?

Fantastic. That sweet malt aroma paired with the barleywine style of ale and bourbon nails it. With every sip, you get the smell, and with the smell, it enhances that flavor.

I even detected a bit of smokey-ness to it.

The verdict?

It was great. a solid 4 n’ a quarter stars. If you can find anything by Clown Shoes honestly, buy it. They’re one of the more difficult craft beers to find sitting on store shelves.

Can you say peanut butter and chocolate galore? Because I hate peanut butter but this might be enough to convert me.

4 Hands is based out of St. Louis on the Missouri side. This is another great craft beer coming from the Quad Cities region. Give them a look if you’re ever by the Arch!

The Taste.

As previously mentioned, it tastes like chocolate and peanut butter. It’s fantastic. It carries some sweet notes with it because of that chocolate an those sweet malts you find in your stout-style brews.

How’d it smell?

Again, just look at everything else. This brew nails everything on the checklist of beers that are supposed to have the advertised flavor and actually able to taste it. Subtle notes of chocolate, peanut butter, and malt.

The verdict.

This craft beer is fantastic. Holy crap. I highly recommend picking yourself up a bomber if you find one!

I won’t lie here. This was fricken’ delicious. The ale has sat in its various locations for the past few years.

Can you say cellar-ed?

It was bottled on January 8 of 2014. The climate and conditions of the store I got it from were ideal for the cellaring method of aging beers. It was a strong taste and I’m not disappointed in the purchase!

How’d it taste?

Oak wood. That’s the strongest flavor I took away from it. The barley used also lends an intense taste, too. The unintentional cellaring helped with that certainly, I’m sure.

Intense, thick, and flavor all the way through.

The aroma?

Fantastic! It smelled great. I asked my significant other what he thought of it. He said gnarly. But his taste isn’t as refined, either. So there’s that.

Here’s a hint: it has passion fruit in it. And some hops. It’s f*****g delicious.

Tired Hands Brewing Co. is based out of Ardmore, Pennsylvania and they’re a popular spot for the craft beer drinkers in the East.

How’d it taste?

This IPA was delicious. Fresh notes of passion fruit and hops blew my mind at first taste. It had a rather delightful mouth feel and was super light; a great BBQ or session ale for those weekends with the friends taste-testing the latest haul of state-line crossing deliciousness.

How’d it smell?

The aroma was strong with that passion fruit-y goodness too. A strong hit of fruit hit my nose at first sniff and then the passion fruit was super close behind that.